Jets Recall Declan Chisholm From Conditioning Stint
It has been an interesting start to the season for Jets blueliner Declan Chisholm as he has yet to see any action with Winnipeg. Last week, the team sent him to AHL Manitoba to get some playing time and today, they announced (Twitter link) that they have recalled him from that loan which was capped at a maximum of two weeks.
Last season, the 23-year-old was quite productive with the Moose, notching 43 points in 59 games after recording 30 in 53 appearances the year before but didn’t see any NHL action. Unsurprisingly, Chisholm was productive in this six-game AHL stint, collecting five assists.
However, despite making Winnipeg’s roster out of training camp, Chisholm is still waiting to play his first game of the season with the big club and has just two career NHL appearances to his name. It’s clear that internally, the team doesn’t think he’ll pass through waivers unclaimed and would like to avoid a repeat of last year when they waived a player in a similar situation in Johnathan Kovacevic who has since gone on to become a regular with Montreal.
His best path to playing time in Winnipeg is an injury but the Jets remain healthy on the back end, meaning that Chisholm is set to reprise his role of being eighth on the depth chart. With Ville Heinola showing that he’s ready for an NHL look when he returns from his ankle injury next month, it appears that Chisholm will continue to be stuck in a numbers game for a while yet.
Metropolitan Notes: Oshie, Martin, Texier, Lazar
After leaving Friday’s game against Edmonton following a collision with Mattias Ekholm, Capitals winger T.J. Oshie will not travel with the team for their upcoming five-game West Coast road trip, reports Sammi Silber of The Hockey News. Oshie has dealt with concussion issues throughout his career and while the team didn’t call the injury that, they’re clearly taking a cautious approach with the 36-year-old. It has been a particularly challenging year on the ice for Oshie, who has been limited to just one goal and one assist through his first 17 games of the season, numbers that are by far the worst of his career. Oshie has one year left on his contract after this one which carries a $5.75MM AAV.
More from the Metropolitan:
- After putting Adam Pelech on LTIR earlier in the day, the Islanders also announced (Twitter link) that winger Matt Martin has been placed on IR. The placement is retroactive to November 15th which means that he will be eligible to be activated as soon as he is cleared to return. Martin has a goal and an assist in 14 games this season along with seven penalty minutes and 31 hits while his playing time has dipped to just 8:27 per night.
- Blue Jackets winger Alexandre Texier has joined the team on its road trip, relays Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 24-year-old has missed the last two games due to illness but evidently has been cleared to return. After spending last season in Switzerland, Texier is off to a relatively quiet start to his season, notching four goals and three assists in his first 19 games despite logging more than 16 minutes a night of ice time, a career-best.
- Devils forward Curtis Lazar is listed as questionable for tonight’s game against Buffalo due to a lower-body injury sustained yesterday against Columbus, notes NHL.com’s Mike Morreale (Twitter link). The 28-year-old is in his first full season with New Jersey who acquired him from Vancouver at the trade deadline last March. Lazar has three goals and two assists along with 37 hits in 17 games so far in just over 12 minutes a night of action.
Sabres Recall Jiri Kulich And Isak Rosen
With Zemgus Girgensons leaving yesterday’s game early due to injury and Jordan Greenway being a late scratch, the Sabres needed some reinforcements up front. Those have come in the form of Jiri Kulich and Isak Rosen as the team announced that both forwards have been recalled from AHL Rochester.
To make room for them on the roster, Girgensons has been placed on injured reserve and is listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Greenway, meanwhile, is away from the team for personal reasons, making him eligible for non-roster status.
Kulich was the 28th overall pick by Buffalo in 2022 and appears to be well on his way toward outperforming that draft spot. He spent all of last season with the Americans and fared quite well as an underager, notching 24 goals and 22 assists in 62 regular season games while chipping in with 11 points in a dozen playoff contests. This year, he’s off to an even better start with 11 goals and six helpers in his first 16 appearances. Kulich can play up to nine games with the Sabres before officially burning the first year of his entry-level contract so it’s quite possible that his promotion will be a short-term one.
As for Rosen, whose promotion was first reported by Pickin’ Splinters’ Kevin Oklobzija, the 20-year-old was the 14th pick by the Sabres in 2021. He also had his rookie season in North America last year and acquitted himself well, collecting 14 goals and 23 assists in 66 regular season games before chipping in with eight points in their 12 playoff matches. Rosen scored the overtime winner last night for Rochester and is their scoring leader with 19 points in 16 games so far. Unlike Kulich, Rosen is not subject to the nine-game threshold.
Kulich and Rosen are viewed as two of Buffalo’s top prospects. After starting in the minors together last season, it appears both of them will get a chance to make their NHL debuts together tonight against New Jersey.
Islanders Claim Mike Reilly Off Waivers From Panthers
With Adam Pelech going on LTIR earlier today, the Islanders have found his replacement, at least in the short term as the team announced that they’ve claimed defenseman Mike Reilly off waivers from Florida.
Last season was a rough one for Reilly as he spent most of the year with Boston’s AHL affiliate in Providence with no team willing to take him on at a $3MM AAV off the waiver wire. He became an unrestricted free agent this summer after the final year of that deal was bought out by the Bruins and he quickly found a landing spot in Florida, who inked him to a one-year, $1MM contract.
The 30-year-old had been on the roster for the Panthers all season long but despite the long-term injuries to Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour, Reilly suited up just twice. Relegated to the eighth blueliner, Florida waived him yesterday in an effort to get him to their AHL affiliate in Charlotte but that won’t be the case now. However, Reilly’s contract now comes off their books, giving Florida some extra salary cap space at their disposal.
The Isles didn’t have the cap space to pick Reilly up until this morning when Pelech landed on LTIR. Once Pelech is cleared to return, New York will have to create some cap room to activate him and will need to move someone else off the roster if they want to keep Reilly in the fold at that time.
Between that injury and the one to Sebastian Aho (both of which occurred yesterday against Ottawa), Reilly could find himself in a situation where playing time will come much more frequently, at least for the time being. A veteran of 341 games between five different teams, Reilly has 98 points and could add a bit of firepower to a back end that has just seven goals on the season, five of which have come from Noah Dobson. Reilly will once again be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Corey Perry To Be Away From Blackhawks For Foreseeable Future
There have been plenty of questions when it comes to Corey Perry’s situation in Chicago. He has missed the last two games due to what head coach Luke Richardson termed an organizational decision although he declined to provide more information than that. Today, GM Kyle Davidson met with reporters including Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago and said that the veteran would be away from the team for the foreseeable future.
While Davidson failed to provide more specifics than that regarding the nature of Perry’s absence, the GM reiterated that this is a team decision, not Perry’s to be away from the team. When pressed about possible reasons by reporters, he stated that it would be irresponsible to rule anything out so he wouldn’t comment on any scenarios.
However, following the press conference, Perry’s agent Pat Morris of Newport released the following statement to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link):
Corey Perry has stepped away from the Chicago Blackhawks to attend to personal matters. Corey and his family appreciate privacy at this time.
Chicago acquired Perry’s negotiating rights back at the draft from Tampa Bay and quickly signed him to a one-year, $4MM deal. While that’s not a typical move for a rebuilding team to make, the Blackhawks clearly identified that they wanted some quality veterans on a young roster, one that added Connor Bedard with the top pick back in June.
While Perry has been more of a supporting cast type of player in recent years with Tampa Bay and Montreal, the 38-year-old has logged a little under 15 minutes a night so far this season and has been relatively productive, collecting four goals and five assists in his first 16 games. With nine points, he sits fourth on the team in scoring.
With the team already missing Taylor Hall – whose ACL surgery is set for Monday – and Perry, that’s a decent chunk of their scoring depth on a team that’s the third-lowest-scoring group in the league. However, Davidson indicated that going and adding a replacement is not something he is looking into right now, suggesting that there are other teams that are far more aggressive in trying to add to their rosters at the moment. At this point, getting into any sort of bidding war for one of those players wouldn’t make sense for the Blackhawks who are still clearly in a rebuilding situation but now will be without another key veteran in Perry for a while yet at least.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Atlantic Notes: Sabres, Minten, Senators New Arena
The Sabres are expected to recall a forward later today, notes Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald. They finished yesterday’s victory over Pittsburgh with just ten forwards as center Zemgus Girgensons left the game in the second period with a lower-body injury while winger Jordan Greenway was a late scratch with an undisclosed injury, resulting in Buffalo having to dress seven blueliners. Notably, the Sabres don’t have any open roster spots – they’re one of the teams carrying three goalies as well – so any recall would require an IR placement or waiver-exempt blueliner Ryan Johnson being sent down to AHL Rochester.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:
- Maple Leafs prospect center Fraser Minten is on the move as WHL Saskatoon announced that they’ve acquired the 19-year-old from Kamloops. Minten made Toronto’s roster out of training camp and got into four games with them before being assigned back to junior last month. Since that re-assignment, he has been quite productive offensively, notching ten points in his first seven games. Saskatoon moved a pair of first-round picks as part of the swap, a fairly high price tag for a one-year rental as Minten will be eligible to play in the AHL next season if he doesn’t crack Toronto’s roster out of camp once again.
- Senators owner Michael Andlauer has received an extension on determining if LeBreton Flats is the right location for a new arena, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports. Originally, their exclusivity agreement was set to expire in the fall but will now go until next September. This location has long been viewed as the best fit for a new building although Andlauer and his ownership group will need time to look into an assess other potential opportunities which this extension will give him a chance to do.
Islanders Place Adam Pelech On LTIR
Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech left yesterday’s game against Ottawa with an upper-body injury and it will keep him out for a while as the team announced (Twitter link) that he has been placed on LTIR. This means that he will miss a minimum of 10 games and 24 days, pegging his earliest possible return date as December 19th against Edmonton.
Pelech was injured on his second shift of the game on Friday, playing less than a minute in total. It hasn’t been a great start to the season for the 29-year-old as he missed three games earlier this month with a lower-body injury and has been a bit quieter than usual when he has suited up. Through 16 appearances, he has just three assists along with 28 blocks and 15 hits while averaging a little under 20 minutes a night, a number that’s skewed somewhat with his early exit yesterday.
Pelech is in the third season of an eight-year, $46MM contract (a $5.75MM cap charge), making him the second-highest-paid Islander blueliner behind Ryan Pulock. Even with his slower start, any sort of long-term absence will sting for New York, a team that has won just eight of their first 19 contests so far this season.
Part of the impetus for the particularly quick LTIR placement is the fact that defenseman Sebastian Aho was also injured early against the Sens yesterday. These two injuries leave the Isles with just five healthy rearguards on the active roster heading into tonight’s game against Philadelphia. Unless Aho is able to suit up, a blueliner will need to be brought up from AHL Bridgeport but without Pelech’s LTIR placement, they would not have had enough money to do so.
Bruins Activate Matt Grzelcyk From LTIR, Assign Two To AHL
The Bruins are set to welcome back one of their blueliners as the team announced that Matt Grzelcyk has been activated from LTIR. To create the cap space necessary to do so, they’ve returned defenseman Mason Lohrei and forward Patrick Brown to AHL Providence.
Grzelcyk has missed the last three-and-a-half weeks with an upper-body injury sustained late last month against Florida. In order for a player to go on LTIR, they must miss at least 10 games and 24 days. Both of those were reached yesterday, paving the way for his activation for tonight’s game against the Rangers.
While the 29-year-old has been a capable secondary contributor from the back end, Grzelcyk has been a bit quiet on that front this season, collecting just a single point (a goal) over his first nine appearances. He’s coming off his fourth-straight 20-point campaign, one that saw him record a career-high 26 points in 2022-23 so it’s fair to say that Boston will be counting on a bit more from him moving forward.
Grzelcyk’s return isn’t the most welcome news for Lohrei who had been acquitting himself nicely with Boston in his first taste of NHL action. The 22-year-old has played in ten games with the big club so far this season, picking up a goal and three assists along with 18 blocked shots while logging 17:35 per contest. He also has four assists in seven games with Providence, making for a decent start to his first full professional campaign.
As for Brown, his return to the minors comes as no surprise after he cleared waivers last week for the second time this season. The 31-year-old is in his first season with the Bruins after inking a two-year deal with an AAV of $800K on the opening day of free agency this summer. However, he has been limited to eight appearances so far where he has an assist while averaging only 9:03 per night. When he suits up for Providence, it will be his first taste of AHL action since the 2020-21 campaign when he played in nine games for Vegas’ affiliate.
Canucks Sign Nils Aman To Two-Year Extension
Friday was a good day for Canucks center Nils Aman. Early in the day, he was recalled from AHL Abbotsford to take the place of Pius Suter on the roster with Suter being placed on injured reserve. He then made his season debut and picked up a pair of assists in a Vancouver victory. In between that, the team announced that they signed Aman to a two-year contract extension. While financial terms were not disclosed, CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that the one-way deal carries an AAV of $825K.
GM Patrik Allvin released the following statement about the signing:
Nils has worked hard on his development since we brought him into our organization. He is a smart two-way hockey player who uses his speed to his advantage. We will continue to work with Nils to help him grow and improve his game.
The 23-year-old was drafted by Colorado in the sixth round in 2020 (167th overall) but didn’t sign with the Avs in 2022, making him an unrestricted free agent. Less than a week later, Vancouver inked him to a two-year entry-level deal; he’s in the final season of that agreement this year.
Aman spent most of last season with the Canucks, getting into 68 games where he had four goals and 14 assists in a little under 13 minutes a night of ice time. He was a bit more productive in a short stretch in the minors, however, notching nine points in 17 contests during a six-week stint with them midseason.
With Vancouver adding more forward depth over the offseason, that pushed Aman to the AHL at the start of this season where he has been quite productive with 15 points in as many games, helping him to earn this promotion.
While it would be reasonable to assume that Aman will be sent down once Suter is cleared to return, that’s unlikely to be the case. When he plays in his next game for Vancouver, he will lose his waiver exemption, meaning the Canucks would have to waive him to send him back to Abbotsford. Considering this extension, it doesn’t feel like that’s a route they will want to take which means he might be up with the big club for good now.
Pittsburgh Penguins Recall Jansen Harkins
11/25: Harkins is back up with the big club as the team announced that he has once again been recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
11/24: Shortly after the start of their game against the Sabres, the Penguins announced they had reassigned Harkins to the AHL.
11/23: The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled forward Jansen Harkins from their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Harkins has shuttled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Pittsburgh quite a bit over the last week. It started November 18th, when Harkins was recalled from the AHL Penguins and then sent back down in a span of just two hours.
Then, in transactions also involving forward Alex Nylander, Harkins was recalled from the AHL on November 21st, and then sent back down yesterday. Today, Harkins returns to the Penguins’ roster.
This doesn’t appear to be the sort of cap maneuvering many teams do in order to bank cap space over the course of the season, as he has actually spent most of the season playing in the AHL. In other words, Harkins isn’t an NHL player that the Penguins repeatedly send to the AHL in order to bank cap space.
Instead, it appears Harkins, who last played in the NHL on October 18th, is continually being recalled and then reassigned from the NHL roster for two potential reasons.
Firstly, the club could be recalling him due to the genuine potential of Harkins dressing for an NHL game. The 26-year-old has already played in four games this season for the Penguins and is a well-liked, versatile bottom-six forward.
Another reason, and one that appears to potentially be the more likely explanation, could be to maintain the Penguins’ flexibility as to where Harkins can be assigned within their organization.
Although the Penguins have played Harkins in 11 AHL games this season compared to just four in the NHL, they undoubtedly have an interest in keeping Harkins as a call-up option in case injuries strike their NHL roster.
Although Harkins cleared waivers for the Penguins in October, that does not give the club an unlimited right for the rest of the season to shuttle Harkins between teams at will. Harkins only remains exempt from waivers so long as he does not remain on the NHL roster for more than 30 cumulative days since he last cleared waivers, or plays in 10 or more NHL games since that point.
So, it is in the Penguins’ best interest to keep Harkins on their NHL roster on a relatively strict basis, only holding him with the main squad when absolutely necessary in order to minimize the days that count against the 30-day total.
Of course, it is true that Harkins has already cleared waivers and therefore could very well clear once more should he need to be waived again this season. But as we get deeper into the regular season and attrition caused by injuries truly sets in for many teams, a versatile bottom-six forward like Harkins becomes a more attractive player to claim on waivers.
The more players teams across the NHL lose to injury, the less likely it becomes that Harkins is able to pass through waivers. So in order to maximize how long Harkins remains waiver-exempt, the Penguins will be recalling and reassigning Harkins with more frequency than they would most other players.
From Harkins’ perspective, while it can’t be fun to be reassigned to the AHL just two hours after a recall, he does happen to be playing on a one-way contract. As a result, he makes $875k regardless of whether he’s on the AHL or NHL roster, so these moves have little consequence for his bottom line.
That being said, that’s not to say these moves aren’t of great consequence for some players. As with any roster moves in a three-tiered organization, these recalls and reassignments have a ripple effect on other players. Harkins’ recall yesterday meant he could not play in the AHL Penguins’ contest against the Hershey Bears.
As a result, the Penguins called up 23-year-old undrafted forward Cédric Desruisseaux from their ECHL affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers. A former QMJHL MVP, Desruisseaux has spent most of his young career in the rough-and-tumble ECHL, putting in work each game just to earn a shot at the AHL level.
He got two AHL games in 2021-22, but did not play in the AHL for the entirety of 2022-23 despite scoring 30 goals and 59 points for the Nailers.
The recall of Harkins paved the way for Desruisseaux to play his first AHL game as a member of the larger Penguins’ organization. So yes, this constant roster shuffling is certainly not something Harkins is likely to enjoy. But one player higher on the hockey food chain’s less-than-ideal circumstance can lead to another player’s potentially career-altering chance to prove himself in a higher league.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images